FIRST, an international nonprofit organization, selected water as the theme for the 2017-2018 FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. seasons. In addition, LEGO is out with lesson plans for a range of STEM topics, available to teachers at no-cost.

In an effort to better prepare Central Valley students for university-level coursework, a program at the University of California, Merced is holding on-campus summer workshops for middle and high school students to gain hands-on training in STEM.

The camera uses a technique called light field photography, originally described by Stanford professors Marc Levoy and Pat Hanrahan in 1996, that captures information about the direction and distance of the light that hits the sensor.

The curriculum covers six levels, for grades K through 5. In the level intended for the earliest learners, students get an introduction to robotics and learn about sequences, algorithms, loops and design thinking. By grade 5, they learn about variables.

The global educational toys market is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 10 percent from the present to 2021, according to a recent report by market research firm Technavio.

The third annual Maker Faire San Diego, Oct. 7-8, in Balboa Park, is now open for entries. This family friendly, two-day event, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., welcomes a variety of diverse, out-of-the-box ideas from makers, inventors, tinkerers, do-it-yourselfers and hackers.

Pai Technology, a Chinese ed tech company with a Santa Monica, CA office, introduced at the ISTE 2017 conference its newest product, Augie, a robot that teaches kids to code and combines that with augmented reality.

An educator in Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, WA uses Arduino to teach coding and robotics to her students. The twist: Students are learning to code music, which helps them relate coding and robotics to their personal interests.